KATHMANDU, May 20: Five years after Melamchi water arrived in the Kathmandu Valley, authorities have finally started supplying it to Singha Durbar, the country's main administrative center.
Until now, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) supplied water to the ministries, departments, commissions, and other offices inside Singha Durbar through deep bore wells.
To meet their daily water needs, most offices inside the Singh Durbar purchased hundreds of jars and bottles of water each day. These purchases cost the government over Rs 50 million annually.
The Ministry of Water Supply has started preparing to supply adequate Melamchi water across the Singh Durbar complex and enforce a complete ban on jars and bottled water. This plan is set to save the government over Rs 50 million annually.
For Sustainable Supply of Melamchi Water to Valley
On Monday, Water Supply Minister Pradeep Yadav officially inaugurated the Melamchi water tap installed in front of the Council of Ministers and the Office of the Prime Minister.
KUKL spokesperson Prakash Rai said the agency will connect Melamchi water to all offices inside Singha Durbar within a month. He added that if all offices switch to Melamchi water and fully ban jars and bottled water, the complex will consume around 1.3 million liters of water daily.
Singh Durbar currently uses about 600,000 liters of water daily. Starting today, we have connected the supply of Melamchi water to one location inside the Singh Durbar. Within a month, we will connect it to all offices and public taps throughout the complex, said KUKL spokesperson Prakash Rai. "We are actively working to complete the preparations."
He added that KUKL technical staff started laying the Melamchi water supply network in all offices inside the Singha Durbar a few days ago. Speaking at the tap inauguration ceremony, Minister Pradeep Yadav assured that the Melamchi water supplied to the Singha Durbar will be entirely clean and safe.
A KUKL technician also confirmed that the water from Melamchi will be pure and suitable for drinking. "We will test the water before supplying it to Singh Durbar and continue regular testing afterwards," the technician said. "So, people can confidently drink the water distributed through the Melamchi system."
Melamchi water entered Kathmandu in 2020, but it has only now started flowing into the Singha Durbar. Until recently, KUKL staff supplied water to ministries and offices inside the complex by connecting a water treatment plant near the eastern gate. That supply, however, came from deep bore wells.
In April, Minister Pradeep Yadav inspected the planned tap connection points for Melamchi water inside the Singha Durbar and announced a ban on bottled and jar water inside the complex. The premises currently have four public taps. Although KUKL had already connected Melamchi pipelines to these taps, they had not delivered Melamchi water through them until now.
On January 14, 2025, then-Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated a water tap inside the Prime Minister's Office premises, but the tap never delivered water. Similarly, public taps installed inside the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Water Supply premises also remained dry. KUKL staff now plan to connect all taps inside the Singha Durbar complex to the water distribution system to ensure water flows from each tap.
Since 2020, the Melamchi water supply has fluctuated, sometimes arriving and sometimes stopping. Monsoon-related problems halted the water flow in 2021, after initial expectations in 2020. The supply remained suspended until 2023, and it resumed on January 15, 2024.
